Portable or handheld audio devices include speakers for producing audio content including alerts, voice and music. Such audio devices include cell phones, smartphones, e-readers, gaming devices, tablets, and personal computers. Speakers are enclosed within a housing having a small acoustic port for protecting the speakers from the external environment while allowing audio to radiate from an aperture in the acoustic port. Such devices may also have multiple speakers to enhance the audio radiated by the device, each speaker having an associated acoustic port.
Handheld or portable devices can also include a pressure sensing transducer, such as a barometer, for measuring atmospheric pressure and providing a user of the device information such as altitude and weather status. A barometer may be enclosed within the housing and use an aperture to provide for sensing of atmospheric pressure.
Handheld or portable devices are exposed to a number of differing environments during their use. Such environments includes being held by a hand of the user, being retained in a casing such as a holster or folio, or being placed on a surface in any of a number of orientations. Exposure to these differing environments may result in a blocking, smothering or an obstructing of an acoustic port and a corresponding degradation in audio radiated by the device. For example, a user holding a smartphone may inadvertently cover a port while holding the phone, or may lay the phone on a surface obstructing the port, or may retain the phone in a holster or folio that does not facilitate the port. These examples result in a blocking of the port and a degradation of audio performance. Also, this results in a waste of power as the energy used to drive the speaker does not result in anticipated audio performance.